Kevin Plank was back on national TV this weekend, as NBC’s Willie Geist visited Under Armour’s new R&D lab in Port Covington.
In the appearance on the Sunday Today show, Plank gave Geist a tour of the company’s Lighthouse facility, where UA is looking to reinvent manufacturing. “This is a top secret facility,” Plank tells Geist.
Plank also offered up some stories from the early days of Under Armour, talking about how he carried two business cards and sent Christmas cards to Nike’s Phil Knight.
Turning to more recent developments, the entrepreneur also addressed the company’s rough fourth quarter of 2016, and the backlash that followed his comments on President Donald Trump earlier this year. On the latter point, Plank said he was trying to be optimistic rather than divisive.
“You can try and say I’m going to try and hit this one right down the middle and everyone will be happy. The fact is that there is no room for that. People want to know where you stand and what issues you stand for,” he said. That could be seen in his immediate denunciation of President Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate accords.
Geist said Plank would rather be known for what he’s doing in Baltimore, including the big development in Port Covington.
Here’s the video:
